On 25 February, the South Wales Argus ran a report on a Monmouthshire Council People Scrutiny Committee meeting. The article was headed “Concerns over home school regulations.” The meeting had taken place on 18 February, and Item 4 on their agenda – Inclusion Strategy and Additional Learning Needs policy –… Read More »Monmouthshire Scrutiny Committee monitoring developments in England
Government-funded research report sets benchmarks to test feasibility and accuracy of matching education data with GP records to mimic proposed LA databases ADR Wales [Administrative Data Research Wales] is an organisation with a broad remit across different policy areas. As their Co-Director and Chief Statistician Stephanie Howarth states in the… Read More »How the Welsh government uses anonymised data to shape policy and service delivery
Failure of database pilots would make it necessary for the government to find a way to impose a duty on parents to register their children as being home educated On 17 September, MS for South Wales Central Rhys ab Owen, (Independent) tabled two Written Questions. Firstly he asked: “Why doesn’t… Read More »Senedd member submits Written Questions about improving accuracy of CME database and about evaluation of pilots
In 2018 the Education Minister of the time, Kirsty Williams, had no hesitation in saying that the proposals to create Children Missing Education databases were an integral part of the Welsh Government’s intention “to identify who is home educated, and to assess if they are receiving suitable education.” Two years… Read More »Cabinet Secretary for Education says CME Databases “are not about elective home education”
This post builds on previous correspondence we have had with Equity in Education [EiE] concerning the “Child Friendly Versions” [CFV] of the “Children missing education database” consultation which was held earlier this year. Relevant posts are from 8 April and 13 June. We received a reply from EIE on 9… Read More »Further Correspondence with Equity in Education – July/August 2024
In her first Evidence Session before CYPEC, Lynne Neagle effectively stated her view that attending school was better for children’s mental health than being home educated Wednesday 8 May saw the newly appointed Cabinet Secretary for Education, Lynne Neagle (Lab, Torfaen), attending her first meeting with the Children Young People… Read More »Cabinet Secretary for Education believes “being in school is a mental health intervention in itself”
In April we shared here details of an email we had received from the Welsh Government’s Equity in Education Team. Attached to it were Welsh and English versions of the “Child Friendly Versions” [CFV] of the “Children missing education database” consultation which was ongoing at the time. We replied at… Read More »Correspondence from Equity in Education and our Reply – April/June 2024
In response to the Welsh Government’s failure to upload the children’s and young people’s version of the Children Missing Education Database consultation on its website, members of our team have worked with other home educators to produce alternative graphics which we hope will encourage young people who are being home… Read More »Suggestions for how children and young people could respond to Databases Consultation
On the afternoon of 27 March 2024 we received the following email from the Welsh Government’s Equity in Education Team: Dear Families First in EducationWe have prepared a children and young person’s version of our consultation document to support targeted engagement with children and young people. This is attached for… Read More »Correspondence from Equity in Education and our Reply – March/April 2024
Education Minster takes oral questions at Senedd Plenary before moving to new role As widely reported, Vaughan Gething was appointed First Minister of Wales on 20 March and has since announced his “new look cabinet.” (We note that Mr Gething has chosen to return to a previous practice of calling… Read More »Senedd Plenary – 13 March 2024
